I’m typically not a goal setter. I never have been. I just go with the flow. As much as I would like to get better in EVERYTHING, I just don’t really follow through on attaining my wants. I think mostly because I turn into a lazy thing and let my “goals” slip away. And we all know I’m not some 20 something that can just learn and execute movements overnight. Oh how I wish I was 10 years younger and starting out. But I am not Now that the open is over, I am going to try and focus on GOALS! Things like a sub 10 minute Karen, Pull Ups, HSPU, etc. I know it’s all possible I just gotta put in the homework. Over time with Coach’s programming at CrossFit Boom I have made progress in many things. I’ve come a long way. But I don’t feel I’ve met my POTENTIAL. Wait, I know I haven’t! And I know I can’t just “get” by with only showing up and not working on my weaknesses when I get a chance. I’m not going to try and kill myself but I know a little more mobility work each day will be helpful. Hanging on the pull up bar a little everyday will be SUPER helpful. So many little things that I need to focus on. And that’s my FIRST GOAL for now. Do HOMEWORK and hopefully take it to the next level.
Today is just day 1 of new focus so I haven’t done much of anything yet. But hopefully this evening I can dedicate some time to all those little things. I have started to follow EAT TO PERFORM’s guideline to eating. I typically feel I eat enough. Eating Paleo for the most part kind of makes it all come together. But as laziness sets in, so does poor eating. Even if it’s Paleo, it can still be poor. You can still miss out on everything you need. You can get by, manage and still be healthy but after reading through ETP posts, I feel that trying out their guidelines and following them for a bit won’t hurt. I think my downfall is not getting enough fat in, not because I’m scared of fat though. It’s just I don’t eat enough of it. So I’m focusing on the FAT and getting a good dose of healthy animal fat and healthy plant fat. And of course managing my carbs and proteins as well. They outline a female that is close to my weight and they have her ideally eating 200g of carbs. HOLY SNIKES! That’s a lot! Sweet potatoes and carb heavy squashes here I come. I want to PERFORM and I thinking giving this a shot will be worth it. I will have to journal my food intake for a little bit until I get used to breaking it down. But hopefully that’s a short lived task and I’ll get the hang of it pretty quickly.
4/6/13 Community WOD
Free Community Workouts are back Jack! Woooo. I enjoy them because a lot of times they are Team WODs and alot of times we do fun stuff, but even when they are not it’s still a good time because you get to workout with people from different class times. This time around it was a doozy of a 20 minute AMRAP.
4/6/13 WOD
20 minutes of 20 KB Swings (1.5POOD/1POOD), 20 HR Push Ups and 20 GTOH with 45lb/35lb plate
We worked in teams of 2 and it was up to us how we would split up each round. My partner and I decided we would go 10 and 10 until we were too spent for that and figure it out from there. We started off strong and made it through several rounds of sets of 10, then fatigue set it and we started doing sets of 5 reps. We went straight through pretty solid and ended up just shy of 10 rounds! 5 reps AWAY! GRRR!
Ground to Overhead with Plate
4/8/13 WOD
I actually got some decent sleep last night and felt good about waking up. Too bad it was only my brain that was awake cause my body wasn’t feeling it!
Skill/Strength: 5, 5, 5+ Back Squat @ 65%, 75% and 85% of our 1 RM
Well my back and hips are pretty tight from all of those KB Swings and GTOH with the plate. And although 65% and 75% felt good, 85% got me. Last week I went 6 reps, today 2, womp womp! Hopefully next week will be better, especially if I’m owning that mobility goal homework.
MetCon: 4 Rounds, 1 min on 30 sec off of Diamond Push Ups and Power Cleans 135/95lb Max Reps
Doesn’t sound too bad till it’s time to go! Holy heckola Diamond Push Ups are no joke. And that 30 second break goes FAST! We alternated between the Push Up and Cleans. So 1 minute of Push Ups, 30 second rest, 1 minute of Cleans, 30 second rest X 4. I didn’t go with the 95lb RX weight because Coach wanted us to go quickly. And I probably could do 1 round at 95lbs quick-like but not sure about 4 rounds with Diamond Push Ups as well.
Diamond Push Ups
I can’t remember each round breakdown but I stayed fairly consistent something along the lines of 20, 24, 21 and 17 for the Push Ups and 14, 14, 10, 13 for the Cleans. It was for a total of 133 reps. I’m a slacker and forgot to take a picture of the board! Hopefully the next time higher rep Cleans are involved I will go for the RX weight. I was pretty spent. My hands, forearms, and shoulders are done!
It’s a new week with new focus. I’m hoping the BUSY of our lives doesn’t drag me down at least not as much as it has been doing. I gotta work around it and fight for the things I need to do for me! Happy Monday y’all and you know the drill … BE AWESOME!
The CrossFit Games Open is finally coming to an end. Although it can be a ton of fun I tend to make it really anxiety ridden. I also get to see for a fact how far down the totem pole I am. Which by the way last year I was just excited to not be last in the world. But this year I took the fun out of it for me and just focused on what I lack. To make matters even worse, there wasn’t much improvement for me when reflecting back to last year. Yes I’m stronger, but not at a point I would like to be. And I’m positive I’m not faster. The upside to this disappointing 5 week journey is that I want to be not just better by next year but MUCH better. With that said I’m not delusional enough to think I’d be regionals worthy but hopefully better in general and with more skill sets!
Don’t get me wrong, the COMMUNITY is still super awesome. I love watching everyone else KILL it and it was a blast being part of the BOOM BOX Fridays where we all get together to become one big CRAZY family cheering each other on! I just know I didn’t rise to this year’s OPEN like I though I would have.
So let’s get to it, although there’s not much to report! I slept in for yesterday’s workout. It’s that cold, rainy crap that had me sleep right through my alarm! Hehe right? Totally not my fault! And this morning was my turn to attack 13.5. Well boys and girls, 13.5 was an insane crazy person’s dream nightmare brought to reality!
Complete as many rounds and reps as possible in 4 minutes of:
65 pound Thruster, 15 reps
15 Chest to bar Pull Ups
If 90 reps (3 rounds) are completed in under 4 minutes, time extends to 8 minutes.
If 180 reps (6 rounds) are completed in under 8 minutes, time extends to 12 minutes.
If 270 reps (9 rounds) are completed in under 12 minutes, time extends to 16 minutes.
Etc.
FUN RIGHT???!!??? So let me break it down. I don’t have PULL UPS so I surely don’t have CHEST TO BAR PULL UPS. My score will be 15. But for putting in work purposes we less elite athletes went for an 8 minute AMRAP using modified (banded) CTB Pull Ups. That’s doesn’t really help when you are no good no matter how many bands you use. 😀
I did my 15 thrusters UNBROKEN. Woooo! And then I had approx 7:30 minutes to keep working. Welp it took me way to long to do 15 Banded CTB and I got back to Thrusters for my second round and did them in sets of 5. I was tired by then. I was mentally wasted. Got back to CTB and had several NO REPS. Only got a score of 50. Those darn CTB!
4/5/13 WOD
That concludes my week for now. Of course I have tomorrow’s Community WOD that I plan on attending. But we also have baseball, so we’ll see what happens. I hope you all have a great weekend! It’s supposed to be beautiful weather here in Texas! Now I go back to my regularly scheduled wodding!
On a quick note before I tell y’all to be awesome and stuff. I’m currently looking into eattoperform.com. I’m thinking about giving their suggestions a go because right now I’m stuck in this half ass clean eating mode. And if I have a plan I’m more likely to stick with it. When I did Whole30 I did amp up my fat intake and ever since then I realize I’m probably not getting enough in. So we’ll see how it goes. Now that’s really all! Go out and make your weekend AWESOME!!
In case you haven’t noticed, I was MIA for the past week. For those of you who did notice, my apologies! For you new followers, HI. I’m a hot mess and you probably want to unfollow, turn around and run! Hehe. Jokes. Well it’s true I’m a hot mess but I’m just your average 30 something trying to figure out how to live healthy, stay healthy and enjoy life. I’m up, I’m down. I’m BEAST and then I suck. It’s a roller coaster around here but I keep on keepin on. Hopefully those who have stuck with me “get” me and hopefully you new folks will as well!
So back to my M.I.A. I’m pretty sure my brain/body was telling me to shut it down last week and that my friends is what I did. I seriously could not wake up on time and I was extra sleepy all week. It doesn’t help that I was eating like crap either. So I’m pretty sure I just got a 1 -2 punch to my GUT (literally), my Head and my Soul.
In my funk, I did get much needed rest and hopefully sorted through some my insane mental maze. And it’s insane indeed. I was doubting CrossFit, Paleo and pretty much everything else. As I don’t get super personal outside of workouts and eating, I’ll keep it at that but overall I was just feeling blah. Everyday that I skipped out on my Boom Box check-ins, I thought I should try to make it to an evening class. Or maybe I should just run around the neighborhood. None of those “plans” ever panned out though. And as for food, my only CLEAN meals were lunch. I guess it’s better than ZERO clean meals but bad eating is something that I can feel mentally and physically and it sucks you in like quicksand! You know it’s bad, you know you aren’t feeling at your best but there you are eating the crap like it’s the best thing ever!
3/28/2013 SKILLS SESSION
Although I was still feeling bleh and wasn’t too keen on going to the Skills Class at the Boom Box on Thursday evening, I still showed up. The much anticipated CrossFit Games Open WOD 13.4 was announced on Wednesday and it had Toes to Bar. UGH. My enemy. I figured I need to absorb all I could so that I could become a TTB master. Once upon a time back in my “lighter” days and not so beat down days, I could string a few together. Lately I’ve barely been able to do 1 rep much less MULTIPLES. And I missed a whole week of WODs where TTB were integrated, Coach must see into the future. I didn’t leave the skills session with TTB as my superpower but I was feeling ok that I would survive 13.4 in the morning.
3/29/13 WOD
Complete as many reps as possible in 7 minutes following the rep scheme below:
95 pound Clean and jerk, 3 reps
3 Toes-to-bar
95 pound Clean and jerk, 6 reps
6 Toes-to-bar
95 pound Clean and jerk, 9 reps
9 Toes-to-bar
95 pound Clean and jerk, 12 reps
12 Toes-to-bar
95 pound Clean and jerk, 15 reps
15 Toes-to-bar
95 pound Clean and jerk, 18 reps
18 Toes-to-bar…
A week off, little practice on TTB and there I stood at 5 a.m. ready NOT ready to go. HOLY COW was I going to survive the 7 minutes? HELL NO is all I could think!
We warmed up and got to setting up our bars. 95lbs wasn’t feeling heavy for my Clean & Jerks and I got a couple of Toes to Bar even though my hands were HURTING so bad. I was starting to feel a little bit better and it was just about GO time.
3/29/13 WOD
3-2-1 GO. My brain stopped working. I had the 3 worst Clean and Jerks EVER. Even failed on my 2nd clean. I was pissed. I had just done several and felt good and now I am doing everything WRONG. I still made it through the first 3 and was ready to tackle TTB no matter how slow I went. And only ONE TTB ever showed up. Oh I’d get one foot to touch, but not my stupid left foot. I’d be an inch away from touching the bar but not ever get to the bar. Oh I was mad. I kept on trying till that dumb clock buzzed. I felt so defeated. So sad. That’s what you get, I scolded myself. That’s what you get for being lazy and eating junk. Way to GO with your 4 reps. Are you serious??!!?? UGH I was not happy. But there wasn’t much more I could do.
I stuck around and watched everyone kill it for the 6 a.m. class and boy was that fun. After all my self hate, it was nice to turn it around and cheer on everyone else. Still not happy with myself but I had to get over that. Later in the day, we went to watch the evening classes and witnessed more awesomeness come out of folks. And then the bug of wanting a do-over started creeping in my head. It was just a thought as it was for 13.3 and I left it at that.
3/30/13 WOD
I have missed a couple of Saturday WODs already and was determined to not miss another one. Plus I couldn’t just show up on Friday for one workout for the week. I was glad when I showed up and then I was convinced that Coach was trying to kill us when it came down to the MetCon.
Skill/Strength: Front Squats: 1X5 @ 80%, 2X3 @ 85%, 3X1 @ 90% – rest 1:00-2:00 between setsIt’s been a while since I have worked on Front Squats so I wasn’t feeling confident with my weights going in. Even though my front squat isn’t super heavy, I was feeling pretty weak (1RM 135lbs). My workload ended up being 110lbs, 115lbs and 120lbs. Turns out I felt pretty good after I knocked each set down.
3/30/13 WOD
MetCon: 100′ Over Head lunges 45/35#, 10 Strict Press @ 60%BW, 30 Burpees, 100′ Over Head lunges 45/35#, 8 Strict Press @ 60%BW, 20 Burpees, 100′ Over Head lunges 45/35#, 6 Strict Press @ 60%BW, 10 Burpees
I pretty much laughed when I read strict press at 60% of my bodyweight! I definitely need to lose weight because my 1RM is way less than that! And I need to get stronger! But weight loss would be a better goal for now, haha. So Coach determined that I would use my 1RM – 75lbs for my strict press and somehow that sounded alright.
Little did I know that the Overhead Lunges were going to kill me and strict press was going to be damn near impossible. Keeping a 35lb plate locked out over head for 100 ft is nuts, 100 ft isn’t even that far but it was HARD. The pizza I had for dinner the night before was bogging me down. I was struggling. I got to the bar for my strict press and it was a FAIL x 5. So I took off 10lbs and finally got the bar overhead. My shoulders were SMOKED! It took me a while but I knocked out those 10 reps. And what was waiting in the wings… BURPEES. My wrists are dead, my shoulders are fried and now burpees. 30 of them! And back to lunges I went. The distance was a measured 50 ft turn around and come back for the 100 ft. I made it about 25 ft and threw the plate down. I wanted to cry it sucked so bad. Got back to the bar eventually and picked up the bar. FAIL! Holy shit are you kidding me? Picked it back up and managed to get 4. Took a break. Then got 4 more! Wooooo. But I did the 20 burpees probably the slowest ever in the world. My muscles were quitting and I still had one more round to go! I was slow on the first 50 ft of the lunges but really powered through (which was probably still slow) the last 50 ft. Back on the BAR and FAIL again. This FAIL nonsense has got to stop! Finally got 2 reps, then 2 more, then 1 more. THEN FAIL! It took me 3 attempts to get the last rep in. By then everyone else had finished so I’m the one they are staring at/cheering on. Those last 10 burpees were probably my best set just cause everyone was in my face. It sucked. Time: 20:20.
3/30/13 Part 2 – the Afternoon
Ernie was half ass debating redoing 13.4 and I had the idea that maybe I would. 3pm rolls around and Ernie is OUT, he has decided he won’t do it but he wanted to go up to the Box to watch anyone who needs to get it in at 5pm. So we go up there. I half ass hang on the bar and work on TTB but I don’t have much. I kinda sorta want to redo it but not really. But while I’m there, I might as well work on the TTB. Eventually I get a whopping 2 in a row and Coach told me to get a bar and start warming up. Nah! I’m good. Get a bar! OK I guess. So I start warming up Clean and Jerks and feel good at least with that. I probably won’t do worse than 4. So I should be fine.
It’s only 7 minutes and who cares that my body is dying from the morning! It appears that little food and extra work are the key to me being more successful (jokes) because I ended up getting through a total of 9 TTB, hahaha. That’s not amazing by any means to an AWESOME athlete but it was amazing for my chunky butt self to get those toes up there. I struggled. They didn’t come easy and I did one at a time. I had a few NO REPS in there but I got the first 3 down and thought I’m good with that. At least I got one round in. Once I finished my 6 C&J, I thought “even better”. My score is a little higher. But those 6 TTB were a big struggle for me. But I had enough time for C&J. I got through the 9 Clean and Jerks and time was up. WHEW, that was NOT easy! I can no longer say I “CAN’T” do TTB. This was a REDO that I’m proud of. Score: 27 reps.
4/1/13
I’m still a little LOT sore from the weekend. I wasn’t even sure I would be able to roll out of bed. Slowly but surely I did even though I was feeling the pain in all of my body.
Coach tried to be a little April Fool’s sneaky on us and put SURPRISE WOD on the board and then try to tell us it was 60 minutes of Burpees. I half heartedly believed it. I was still sleeping! Thank goodness it was a joke.
Skill/Strength: Squat 5,5,5+ @65,75,85%. The + is for max reps over 5.
I don’t think I’ve worked on Back Squat since I PR’d so my percentages are a little different than I’m used to seeing. And it felt heavy! Even 65% felt heavy. I was reminded how missing a week can do that to you, sigh! I’m back. I’m back! No more missing days at a time! Worked up to the 85% and got 6 reps in. Went for the 7th but bottomed out. My legs are dead from Saturday. I felt ok with my 6 reps.
4/1/13 WOD
MetCon: 3 rounds – 20 kbs 1.5/1 (American), 15 C2B, 10 Thrusters 115/85
Doesn’t sound like much, but I know better. That’s a lot! Especially those Chest to Bar Pull Ups.
I started off with KB Swings and those weren’t to bad to get through 20. Since I don’t have a pull up yet, I clearly don’t have a Chest to Bar, I double banded up and got to work. Being able to kip and use bands was good for my first round. I still struggled but got through the 15 faster than I thought. It was the Thrusters that would get in my head. I didn’t do the RX weight of 85lbs because warming up I felt a twinge in my lats on my right side. I didn’t want to hurt myself doing a heavier weight. So I stuck with 65lbs. Weak I know but this was supposed to be a quick workout. I broke my first round up too much: 3, 3, 2, 2. Got back to the KB and did 12 unbroken. I had to put it down before finishing. My forearms were fading fast. Got back on the bar for C2B and I could only do 2 at a time, then 1 at a time. This took forever. I knew I had to step it up for Thrusters. I managed 5 and 5. And only managed 10 and 10 for the KB swings. By the 3rd round of C2B I could only do 1 at a time. My forearms were on FIRE! When I got through that 15, I wasn’t sure how I would survive the last set of Thrusters and something in me clicked. I did those UNBROKEN! Time: 16:42. I was spent. That workout was brutal….for me!
Well if you made it this far I applaud you. That’s a lot of recap and probably not all that exciting. But I had a lot to report on from the weekend! Hopefully I’m back and back with a vengeance, in the box and in my kitchen. Today I started off with showing up to the Boom Box, clean cooking and eating.
Got one foot in, now lets see if the other will follow and stay! It’s a mental battle I know. I just gotta suck it up and go forward. I hope all of y’all are making the steps to a healthier life. If you fallen off the radar, now’s a good time to find your way back! Have a Happy Monday! And you know the drill…BE AWESOME!!
Oh how I love Daylight Savings! I LOVE the sunshine hanging around past 7pm. But at the same time I am so sleepy for a week or so. It seems to get worse as the years go by. I just want to sleep in! And that’s what I did on Monday and I’m almost did it again this morning!
Waking up was not happening on Monday morning. I woke up, turned off alarm, set new one and went right back to sleep. Of course I have that remorse later on in the day, thinking why didn’t I just get up. I was tired and achy that’s why! But I did show up for the 6pm class. Thank goodness because I felt soooo much better 🙂
6/11/13 WOD Skill/Strength: KB Swings (Russian) – 3×25 AHAP Unbroken, rest 1 minute between sets.
I didn’t really have a choice in what weight I would start at as Coach just gave me 1 POOD. For the 2nd round I moved up to 1.5 POOD. Well that’s a little heavy! If we break on the 25 reps we have to start over so I KNOW I don’t want that to happen. I was having a hard time keeping my shoulders back but 25 still came pretty easy. I did however take a longer break between by 2nd and 3rd round. I didn’t move up to 2 POOD because A. I probably wouldn’t be able to do it UNBROKEN and B. I needed to work on form with keeping my shoulders back. That last round sucked but I finished strong. And I could definitely feel the difference in keeping my shoulders back!
3/11/13 WOD
MetCon: 5 rounds: 45 seconds on 15 seconds off.
Power cleans 115/75
Straight leg sit-ups
Thrusters 115/75
Well, well, well, I love Cleans but don’t have the same kind of love for the Thrusters. When I first started CF, I thought THRUSTERS were AWESOME. But that’s when all I had to use was the naked bar. They are a great whole body movement and they are evil at the same time. I’m good up to 55lbs at moving the bar fast then I just go womp womp on anything above that weight! The idea is to have the same weight for Cleans and Thrusters. UGH. I did 65lbs fine and Coach really wanted me to do 75lbs so I did. It was miserable but I did it.
This was a TABATA type of workout. We had to do the movement for 45 seconds, rest, repeat movement. We kept track of reps and whatever our lowest rep count was ended up being that score for that movement. Fifteen seconds is not a lot of rest. I felt I started out strong in my first 45 seconds of Cleans with a rep count of 14. It faded fast and I finished the rest of the rounds at an even 10 each round. Not to shabby, at least to me it wasn’t.That’s 54 Cleans in 5 minutes. We then had to move to straight legged situps. For some reason I got burned out quickly. I went from 20 reps to a consistent 16 reps. I was kind of disappointed in that movement as I typically can bust out situps. No AbMat I suppose so I was sliding all over the mat. Now for Thrusters. I’m dying right about now and I don’t even want to pick up the weight. By the time I did, I was like OH WOW, those sit ups did me in. My core is shot and I’m supposed to do Thrusters! How about 2? That’s more than 1. The life energy was sucked out of me and I was bad. I still kept on and got 3 for the 2nd round. Sure I could have just done 2 because that was going to be my score anyways but that’s not a cool way to look at things, so I did as much as a I could and that was 3! I did 2 more rounds at 4 and the last round at 2. Pretty lame for that finish. I was beat! Score: 10, 16, 2
6/12/13 WOD
So with the quick turnaround in workouts I wasn’t even sure I would wake up to make the BOOM Box this morning. I almost didn’t as I hit SNOOZE twice! Saw the workout and was really torn! SPRINTS was the Skill/Strength. Not my strength at all. And it’s cold outside! But I knew if I made a habit of skipping out on 5 am I would be doomed. The only reason I made last night’s 6pm class is that it’s Spring Break and the roads aren’t full of traffic. So 5am HERE I COME.
Skill/Strength: 10-100yd sprints, rest 1 minute from first person finishing.
Me and running are no bueno together. I am the worst runner ever. Forget about sprinting! The first 5 were OK but the last 5 were just slow. My hips were on fire! In the end, I know I NEED to do that kind of workout because it’s a weakness and I really do NEED to get better I just don’t wanna.
3/12/13 WOD
MetCon: Death by HR push ups Going up by 2. (ex: 1 min=2PU, 2 min=4PU, 3 min=6PU, etc)
Push Ups anyone? Push Ups? Death by anything is pretty painful and I as I sit here typing I can definitely feel it. I might not be able to move my upper body by tonight but that’s OK, right? Hahaha. I worked my tired ass self through 10 minutes and only got 16 reps into minute 11. I was dead. I don’t think any amount of bribery or death threats would have helped me get to 22 reps. I was pretty happy about my score though. That’s 126 PUSH UPs!
Food Front
I’m not way off course but still not on point. Still too many slip ups and it’s not good! Too many slip ups in my opinion anyways and well for the SCALE too. Still haven’t regressed to my bad weighing habits but I did weigh the other day and for me it’s just sad. I am definitely not at the same place I was a year ago and I think a lot of it just has to do with we weren’t as busy last year. So I had more time to focus on food and what I was putting in my mouth. Plus paleo was still new to me so it was still fun. Not that it’s boring now but I run out of time to be creative and enjoy it.
I made a point to eat more green foods this week and I think I’m doing good so far. We still have a lot left in the fridge still so I should be great for the rest of the week. If I could just fiend off temptations and bad dinners!
3/11/13 Lunch – Sirloin, Spinach and Asparagus! GREEN!
That’s all for this fine Tuesday. Sorry I left y’all hangin’ yesterday. I know you just couldn’t wait to see what I was up to! Hehe. Seriously I know you have better things to do but thanks for stopping by 🙂 Have a great day and BE AWESOME!
Hey everybody… I just wanted to thank all of you again for checking out my posts regularly. This is my part of the little world to vent, rant, rave, be silly etc. Even if I had zero readers I’d probably still blog away. I just want to re-iterate that I share my days, my ups and downs, my silly world with you so you know LIFE is a journey. Life can be hard, but it can be SUPER and rewarding as well. In the end, this blog is for fun, entertainment (sometimes), and a creative outlet. So thanks for putting up with me willingly 🙂
Yesterday we had a little bit of crazy enter our world. One of my kids lost complete feeling in his legs for a few hours and had all of us, including Dr.’s scratching our heads. All is well now as far as we can tell but it’s those moments in life where you sit back and evaluate. We should be thankful and appreciative daily but on a day to day basis sometimes it’s hard to see the forest through the trees. (Cliche I know, but you get me right?) And of course when I’m rambling here it’s mostly towards a specific love/hate relationship I have with CrossFit and clean eating. Like I’ve said, idrankthecfkoolaid.com is meant to share my experiences on my fitness journey. You get tidbits of the rest of my life but only tidbits. After some reflection and prayer, I know and have always known that I am truly THANKFUL and BLESSED. My life is GREAT. I don’t think I say that enough. It’s not perfect by any means, HELLOOO, I have 3 boys (13, 11 and 10). It can be a little insane. We have a lot of irons in the fire but we are good. God has truly blessed me.
I just wanted to share that and put that out into the open but I still gotta recap my BOOM BOX morning where I forget all of those happy warm feelings! Especially when it’s 30° outside! And this morning I felt OLD. Not old like on my death bed old but worn out and heavy feeling. My bones felt heavy. I wasn’t feeling bushy tailed and wide eyed at all. I’m sure it was the mental stress of yesterday, the cold of this morning and the fact that I just might make all 5 days this week instead of sleeping in, feeling crappy or whatever. Ernie actually encouraged me to go this morning. So I had to roll out of bed and go.
Skill/Strength: 5 RM Deadlift
SOOOOOO being all sleepy and old feeling I forgot we had a 3RM day last week, so I was just going until I could go no more or until time ran out! After some good warm ups I was ready to jump up in weight and like I’ve been saying over and over, DEADLIFTS finally feel good to me. I used to dread them but now it’s like wow, I can lift this. My hamstrings aren’t wound up tighter than a (fill in the blank because I’m at a loss for something funny). I worked up to 185 and knocked those out. Coach said was that HARD. I was like NO but it’s not EASY either. So he goes it was easy. Do one more set and add weight. So I went up to 195lbs and besides losing grip, I felt good at this weight. Again not HARD but not easy. Just somewhere in the middle. I don’t do the math to find out what my 1 RM should be but it should be something amazing! Yay for Deadlifts!
3/6/13 WOD
MetCon: 3 rounds of a 3 minute AMRAP of 5 Shoulder to Overhead (155lbs/95lbs), 10 Burpees, 15 Toes to Bar, rest 1 minute.
Hhhmmmmm. Did I tell you all I felt heavy and old? Ya, 95lbs, hhmmm. I can get 95 overhead. My max right now is 105lbs. And then someone asks if we are cleaning the weight each round and the answer is YES. Duh, why would I hope for anything else. So my max clean is 105lbs too. Hmmm. I warm up thinking I’ll just go to 85lbs. Seriously I was ready to take a step back. Then I remembered how I fought through those damn Kettle Bell Thrusters on Saturday and told myself to do the 95lbs. Just suck it up and do it. You are already going to not do TTB as prescribed, you might as well do the weight RX! 3-2-1 GO. I cleaned the bar fine. I felt good. But HOLY SHEESH this is heavy going over head! I went slow. I dropped the bar after the 4th rep. HELLO you only have to do 5. Then I struggled cleaning the bar again. I got mental really quickly. Finally got it overhead and moved to Burpees. These are never any fun but got through them and I didn’t even try to do TTB, just went straight to Knees to Elbows. I didn’t even complete one round in the 3 minutes. How defeating. After our minute rest it was time for the second round of 3 minutes. I got a little more amped and aggressive with the bar and knocked out the STOH like it was easy or something. See what MENTAL does to you? Got to burpees. A little slower than last time. 95lbs is still heavy for me. I was tired. And then fought for those 15 KTE! Made it through one round. Yay! I pretty much went through the 3rd round the same as the 2nd. I finished even faster but wasn’t able to clean the bar fast enough to get it overhead before time was up. Score: 86 reps. Not super or outstanding but I put in the work and I was beat!
13.1 is released today for the CrossFit Open and foodwise I’m not ready. Way to go Steph. Way to screw up Whole30 when it counts the most. It is what it is and I just gotta focus on eating clean over the next 5 weeks and just pray and hope to see improvement. I’m sharing a link about being a sugar addict. I typically share all 21-Day Sugar Detox and Whole30 type information. But found this to be another source/voice to add to my arsenal of information. This might be the words that you needed to read to kick the sugar, grains and dairy habit. http://www.beingprimal.com/could-you-actually-be-addicted-to-foods. Check it out. (Disclaimer, the only thing I don’t agree with is the beans in the detox salad) Kick that crap to the curb and carry on! Or just pretend you are doing all the right things and your health is in tip top shape. I know it’s gibberish to hear that GRAINS, something that is the basis of the FOOD PYRAMID and that has been bashed in our heads FOREVER are bad for you! But they are. It’s hard to believe that SUGAR is that bad for you. Even worse those NO CALORIE CHEMICAL SUGARS are gasp… BAD for you!
Come on now. You know deep down all that processed food going in your body is not good for you. Or wait maybe you don’t. It’s becoming clearer everyday, from news shows, to reality tv shows that the GENERAL PUBLIC has no idea how BAD processed food can be for you. If it comes in a box don’t eat it. If it comes out of a window don’t eat it. If it has more than ingredients you can not pronounce or clearly define DO NOT EAT IT. I can’t force you to eat real food or make you believe me. You have to do your own research. You have to do your own self experimentation. I’m telling you that I physically have seen and felt the difference and I know others that have as well. Giving it a try isn’t going to kill you. At least I don’t think it will! Just try to eat better folks! Please!
Alright enough for today. It’s HUMP day! Take that one step for a better, healthier life – It will make you more AWESOME!
There are no words to describe what showing up to workout does for my mindset. Even if it’s not at my very best. On Sunday I self-sabotaged and dived into the MSG cesspool of what we all know and love (ok maybe it’s just me) as the Chinese Buffet. A new one popped up near us and it was shiny and new. Why not? Right. There are so many reasons as to why not – mystery meats, mystery sauces, etc.
My stomach grumbled the whole evening, the whole night and straight into the morning. I was not up to par for some Monday morning running at the BOOM Box, SOOOOO I slept in. And I felt it all day. Granted the junk in my body had to filter it’s way through but I just was blah all day. It was noticeable.
This morning however, although I was hurting, I still showed up to CrossFit Boom. I ate my egg whites post workout, I ate my breakfast and I feel so much better. Mentally and physically the fog is lifting and I move forward. When you make working out part of your everyday it’s a big hole in your world when you skip out. Especially after some good rest and recovery.
Now I know some of you dive in, kill yourselves, you can’t move for days and by the time you get back in the gym it’s like starting over. And then you quit! Well it’s a vicious cycle I know. Just the same as eating JUNK. But you have to mentally plow through. Stick with it. Forge on. Don’t get stuck in the excuses people. I for one like to get stuck in them and KNOW this about myself already. It’s really all about self awareness and rising above what brings you down. I have learned personally since my completion of the Whole30 that I can’t be a one foot in, one foot out kind of person. I sway to much to the one foot that is on the outside. So last night, I said enough is enough and I got back on the cooking train. I made plenty of veggies to help me through the week. I have my proteins defrosting. Now I just need to get some bone broth back in my arsenal and all will be well in the world!
2/23/13 WOD
OoooEeeee, this was going to be work. And it was one of those crawl back in bed mornings. Coach could read it in all our bodies and faces. It was a drag ass start. But we finally got into it.
Skill/Strength: 15 minutes to establish a 1RM of the barbell complex:
1 Clean
3 Front Squats
1 Jerk
3 Back Squats
1 Behind the Neck Jerk
It’s been a while since I’ve done any sort of complex. You don’t realize how much it takes out of you. I wasn’t in any hurry to jump up to big weight and I wanted to really focus. I worked my way up to 95lbs. I really should have got 105lbs but I was having that whole drop under the bar issue in Cleaning the bar. And 105 is a weight I know I can do. It’s yet to be pretty, but I can Clean it. But I feel I did alright. Nothing amazeballs but I felt good.
MetCon: 3 rounds 14 CTB, 7 Snatches (full squat) 135/85#
I don’t have Pull Ups so we all know I’m not doing Chest To Bar. I choose banded Pull Ups… as if i have a choice! And Snatches. Over time I’ve learned not to dread this movement but I still have a ways to go in technique. I stuck with 55lbs for this WOD. It was a good weight for me to move quickly and still have good form. I knocked out the Pull Ups easier than I have in the past… is this Progress knocking at my door? Yes I think so! My first round of Snatches were a little sloppy. I was not keeping the bar close enough to my body. Once I corrected that I was on a roll. My 2nd and 3rd round of Pull Ups didn’t go as easily as the first round. But my Snatch got better. My forearms were spent but overall I felt good. Time: 11:01
2/26/13 WOD
Like I mentioned previously, It was nice to just show up even though I didn’t have the best performance. It was extra cold and windy this morning and everything was achy!
Skill/Strength: Pull Ups
I can’t complain. I need to get better. You can’t get better without working on it and so many of the BOOM ladies are knocking these out like they are easy or something! Pull Up land is waiting for me. I feel like I’m getting there. Still slow as a snail but I’m getting there.
MetCon: CrossFit Games Open WOD 12.5 – 7 minute AMRAP of 3 Thrusters, 3 CTB, 6 Thrusters, 6 CTB, 9 Thrusters, 9 CTB, etc.
The RX for Thrusters was 65lbs. Shouldn’t be a problem. But into my 2nd round, I had a pinch in my shoulder that hurt like bloody hell. I couldn’t push past it so I dropped the weight to 55lbs. The pain didn’t go away but I stuck with it. Hoping it’s just inflammation from the Buffet Indulgence. Again, with the Pull Ups I felt I had a little more in me than I have in the past. My shoulder however really was hindering me. Total Reps: 48 I did better last year but I wasn’t in pain last year. I took a lot of time standing around. I feel confident I could have done much better had I not taken the time to switch weight, stand around in pain, etc. I made sure to do some hurts so good mobility afterwards. Hoping that helps in the long run.
That’s it for this Beautiful Tuesday. I’m hoping this week stays strong and positive! Stay focused. Drop the Excuses and as always be AWESOME!
EQUALS NO FUN for this girl! If you’ve been around long enough, you should know without a doubt that me and wall balls might as well be mortal enemies. It doesn’t matter if it’s a 10lb ball or 14lb ball, I DISLIKE this movement torture. To make matters even more interesting, it’s not just KAREN (aka 150 wall balls), It’s Karen + other crap.
But before I dive into that brutality, can I get a WOOOOOO? I can’t hear you! WOOOOOO! Ya let me tell you what you are yelling for (you better be yelling) … wait for it, wait for it … a 20lb PR on my Back Squat! YA!
Today was a retest for those of us that missed last week… cough cough ME. And I was a little hesitant/scared! I didn’t want to fall in the DID NOT PR category. But I am finally making gains. I went from 145lbs to 165lbs. So excited for that and now 200lbs doesn’t seem like a pipe dream anymore. It’s a realistic goal!
2/20/13 WOD
MetCon: 12.4 – 12 minute AMRAP of 150 wall balls, 90 DU, 30 MU
Last year when they released this WOD for the CrossFit Open, I pretty much laughed. This time around for this throwback WOD there wasn’t so much laughing but more of a sigh and OH HELL. At least I have a PR for the day. Just do better than last year! Right?
Even though I am dumb for defeating myself mentally before the clock even starts, I found some sort of pace and was over half way through the wall balls before I was halfway through the time! And then that wall that I like to run into popped up and I hit it, HARD! And then I just counted myself out. It’s not gonna happen. And with that sucky ass attitude why would it happen? I had about 10 NO REPS throughout where the ball made the distance but didn’t touch the WALL! So that was wasted energy! When time was called I had 133 completed. Yes it’s improvement over the 120 I had last year but I really feel like I should have finished. Barely a month after last year’s beating we just did plain ol Karen and I finished in 14:37 so I think for sure I would have beat that time. I know there are folks who get 150 wall balls finished in half the time or LESS. One day I’d just be happy with a SUB 10 minute score!
14 days till the open and I’m at about an 80/20 clean eating situation. I haven’t made it to a 90/10 or just an all out 100% commitment. What is wrong with me? I’m getting back there though, just very slowly! Ernie says he’s committed to being strict for the next 14 days and on into the open so maybe that will help me out! I know there’s a few folks at the BOOM Box trying it out now and I hope you all are staying strong and following through. Help me to get back on it! Please!
Also, my friend Vicki shared this AWESOME video, all about the PALEO:
On that note. EAT CLEAN ladies and gents! Smile! Share your AWESOMENESS with others and enjoy the day!
Last week was hectic and as I told you all, I was worn out. I couldn’t manage to roll out of bed Friday morning so I skipped out on the Boom Box. I was feeling better by the middle of the day and decided I would hit up an evening class. So glad I did. I needed it. Working out is mostly a LOVE relationship, but sometimes it’s a Love/Hate kind of thing because when you are so worn out and you don’t show up then you feel like crap for not getting that work out in! It’s not very fun. But in the end you know you need the rest. After my workout on Saturday, I declared a do nothing kind of day. That is do nothing after the boys had baseball practice! They would be gone the rest of the day. Ernie would be gone the rest of the day. So I caught up on my DVR and slept… ALOT! It was good I needed it. On the downside, I let the cakeballs get the best of me! DAMN YOU CAKEBALLS! I made sure I cleared them out by inhaling them though. There are no more living in our house. All is back to normal. May the clean eating resume. The open is near, and although I won’t be even close to the top ladies in our region I don’t want to feel like POO when doing the open WODS. Cakeballs! Grrr 😀
2/15/13 WOD Skill/Strength: Deadlift 3 x 3 @ 85%
I’ve never felt so good doing Deadlifts. So I’m happy to say that I feel progress in this movement. Besides my hands feeling like they are on fire, I’m not having many issues with getting the weight off the ground. Working up to 170lbs was good and doing my 3 sets of 3 were feeling really good. Hopefully a nice PR is coming up!
2/15/13 WOD
MetCon: 15, 12, 9 of Wall Balls and Chest To Bar
So I’m a little more flexible at the end of the day than I am at 5 am. So Wall Balls although brutal aren’t as bad on the hips in the P.M. My shoulders were not too happy with me in general but I got the job done better than I have been in the past. It’s the damn Pull Ups that still get me! Time 7:02
2/6/13 WOD
Oh holy crap, you want me to run when it’s in the 30s and you want me to run a mile coach! I really really didn’t want to show up to the BOOM Box on a Saturday morning to run but of course I couldn’t punk out. I’ve been progressing it is true in most things but running is not one of them. And everyone else’s progression is on FAST TRACK or something so I have to catch up with the group! I know, I know, it’s me vs. me but still. You see so many folks getting PRs and it’s great and awesome for them. But here I am not getting PRs or fast tracking it. So ya, I reluctantly showed up!
2/16/13 WOD
Skill/Strength: Front Squats EMOM for 7 minutes. 2 reps with a 3 second pause at the bottom @ 75% of our 1 RM
I haven’t tested for Front Squat in a very long time, so 75% for me was 100lbs. Coach was sure I could do more so we upped it a whopping 5lbs. By the end of the 7 minutes I could feel those 5lbs! It kind of feels good to hold the squat at the bottom for a couple of seconds. I’m not sure exactly what pauses do for you mechanically or in terms of getting stronger, but I trust they are good for you.
MetCon: Run 1 mile, 50 Power Cleans (75lbs), 30 HSPU
Running! Booooo! I started off on a slow but steady pace. My right shin is still pretty beat up so I felt that for a while with every step I took. but 2/3 of the way back my left calf and shin decided to speak up and well they were LOUD. My jog became a slow trot. It was horrible. Again another poor run performance. Something in the 11 minute mark. Everyone had been back and busting through those Cleans! I didn’t do the 75lbs, because I’m a wuss and thought I wouldn’t be able to do 50. Turns out I probably should have/could have. I caught up pretty quickly after being so behind on the run. I still don’t execute HSPU very well without being modified so I did them off the box. And that turned out to be surprisingly easy. I’m somewhere in the middle, I suppose. Which is great! HSPUs here I come! Time: 16:34
02/18/13 WOD
Whew, finally made it to this morning! It was a humid one for us, thankfully NO MetCon today! Wooooo! Eh, I do like MetCons but working on strength is fun too.
Skill/Strength: Overhead Mobility, Pull-Up Mechanics
We did some bar torture and some PVC work with Overhead Squat Mechanics. We then worked on kipping. I am tight. My upper back, shoulders and whatever else that can be tight is TIGHT! It is no fun. On the bright side of everything hurting I forget my hands hurt so I felt a little stronger when it comes to kipping. I feel a little more coordinated and hopefully I’ll get some form of a pull up SOON.
2/18/13 WOD
OHS 3, 3, 3, 3, 3
It’s been a long while since I’ve worked on my Overhead Squats. A long while. So I wasn’t sure what weight to start at and what weight I should end with. I decided to warm up to 65lbs. I was feeling good. I jumped from 65lbs to 75lbs because I was trying to get to 90lbs for my final set. 90lbs is my current 1RM. So I figured if I got that then I would be set for a nice PR in the future. 75lbs is where it got heavy though! Not really heavy but painful on the wrists. EVEN with my strength wraps But I still went on and knocked out 80 and 85lbs. Instead of going for 90lbs, I went for 95lbs. Got the Bar overhead and panicked. I hesitated just thinking about squatting and it was an immediate MENTAL fail! Ah well. Maybe next time!
As far as food goes, it hasn’t been AWESOME but I’ve had some good moments. Like I said earlier, the CrossFit Games Open is coming up fast and I need to dial it back in with my eating. I don’t want to suck at everything more so than I already do because my eating is out of whack. So I’m reeling all the slip ups in and putting my Whole30 discipline back into action. Crossing my fingers I stick with it 😀
Leave me a comment if you are interested in the Whole30 or have questions. Nutrition is key when trying to find good health and fitness. Not only does eating clean make you feel better in general it completely makes working out that much easier. As I routinely say, you NEED to make a CHANGE. Whether it’s jumping in the deep end of the pool or taking BABY steps like cutting out crazy beverages and just taking in Water. Make a CHANGE in your life. Without it you will always be stuck in your rut.
Other than that, let’s hope this Monday doesn’t end up crazy. Have a great day and of course MAKE IT AWESOME!
I am T-I-R-E-D! Exhausted! I think I’m just trying to cram too much in. Work is typically laid back but we are in tradeshow season so I’m extra busy and not sitting at my desk all day. Then at home, I’m trying to make a gazillion cakeballs and that’s a whole different kind of stress. It’s not bad stress but I’m staying up later and I carry all the tension in my upper back and shoulders. They are hurting. On top of the 5 am workouts, I am TIRED!
This morning was extra chilly at the BOOM Box. Where did my 50° mornings go? Seriously back in the 30s. I’m not a happy girl. I had no motivation to do work. I’m really surprised that I didn’t stay home. The workout for the day was 12.3 from last years open!
Before we started we worked on TTB and Box Jumps because that my friends makes up 2/3 of 12.3. I tried working on not reloading once I hit the ground from box jumps. But I still haven’t found those super springy legs yet. I’ll just have to fight through those pesky box jumps. And well I still haven’t found my TTB. Sigh, that’s one more thing I need to get back to working on. So close but they are hiding from me.
2/13/13 WOD
MetCon: 18 minute AMRAP of 15 Box Jumps, 12 Push Press and 9 Toes To Bar. 20″ for box jumps and 75lbs for push press. Coach T wanted us to do a weight for push press that we felt we could do unbroken. Well I didn’t think I could do 75lbs unbroken. So I went with 65lbs even tried to get away with 55lbs but that wasn’t happening. I couldn’t do 65lbs unbroken either! And it hurt. I should have warmed up more because a lot of the hurt went away with more reps so I know it’s not an injury, just tired ass muscles. My Toes to Bar didn’t magically come at 3-2-1 either. It was really a Debbie Downer kind of morning.
OUCHY!
Then I tried to break my shin on the box jumps, which I have never done before. I’ve missed and banged up right below my knee but today I went for all the marbles, drew blood and stained my NEW and AWESOME Reebok compression socks Ernie got for me for Valentine’s day. Womp, Womp.
At least they weren’t the white ones! 20″ isn’t even an issue for me when it comes to box jumps. I was not feeling it today though. Total reps: 166. When I saw Coach G after the workout he asked me how it went and I had nothing positive to report. It was bad. He asked how I did last year and I couldn’t remember. But I did look back in my posts and found this. A little more optimistic version of me who did freaking 75lb push press but only got a score of 96. Ugh. Still just made me more blah for the day! But it also reminded me after reading about Sherry, why I love CrossFit – COMMUNITY! I may be a big baby but I have a great box full of wonderful people that inspire me and challenge me even when I just want to throw a fit.
Can I get a do-over? Pretty Please? I promise I will be awesome the rest of the day! I will not think about my banged up shin anymore. I will knock out a gazallion cake balls tonight and I will eat clean! I will for sure enjoy my REST day tomorrow! Done son! Gotta regain awesome! You GO BE AWESOME as well! Happy WEDNESDAY!
not a pleasure to meet you! For those of you new to CrossFit or have no clue as to why there are workouts named after people, mostly women or in honor of Heroes, I’ll share what I’ve found:
Many have asked, “Why are the workouts named after Girls?” Since 1953 storms have been assigned female names by the National Weather Service as a quick identification method. It is this convenient and logic approach that inspired Coach Glassman to name the original 6: Angie, Barbara, Chelsea, Diane, Fran and Elizabeth after storms.
Coach Glassman, the founder and President of CrossFit explained it further. “I want to explain the workout once and then give it a name. I thought that anything that left you flat on your back, looking up at the sky asking ‘what just happened to me?’ deserved a females name. Workouts are just like storms, they wreak havoc on towns.”
The workouts named after GIRLS are benchmark workouts. You don’t do them all of the time but each time you do them over months, years, etc, the idea or hope is that you get better. Improved fitness. They are quantifiable and create this shared sense of misery happiness within each and every CrossFit Box.
And today I met Elizabeth. And me no likey! I have mentioned in the past how much I love to Clean! Clean the BAR that is and today I wasn’t feeling the same love.
Elizabeth
21-15-9 of Squat Cleans and Ring Dips (135/95)
I know I can clean the 95lbs but not sure if I can do that for 21-15-9 so I dropped to 85lbs. And I was a big ol baby. More than EVER. I didn’t even want to pick up the bar. I finally did and got through 11 like a champ. And then more BABY showed up. It took for what seemed like forever to get to 21. I moved to the ring dips and used a green band. I knocked out 15 pretty quickly then weakly busted out the last 6. If you thought I was a baby for 21 I was for sure a baby for the 15. I did 3 at a time but was out of energy and slow. I mentally hit every roadblock imaginable. I felt my wrists crying, I felt my back on a sloppy rep, I felt the FOOD, the BAD FOOD and it’s side effects. And that’s all I kept doing is reminding myself of my craptabulous weekend eating and how it was affecting me. I was a headcase. Finally finished 15 and moved to ring dips. For some reason even though my triceps were spent I wasn’t having as hard a time with the ring dips. Granted I’m using a band for assistance but it wasn’t feeling super rough. Finally got to the last round and I knocked them out in in 2 sets of 3 and then in singles! I did 7 ring dips, then 2, TIME: 13:30. Coach said the weight looked easy for me and it was all mental. And I believe that to be true. But I also felt like crap. Don’t F*** up your eating folks. It sucks donkey balls!
2/12/13 WOD
In rebuttal to eating so poorly over the weekend, I was on the push for getting food prepped last night so I had food ready to eat and cook. As soon as we walked in the door from baseball practice I was Johnny on the GO. It did not help however that there was a request for Cake Balls for the boy’s Valentine’s Day parties at school. So there I am baking away and sometimes tasting! I got it out of my system quick though cause when you have a lot of irons in the fire it’s hard to focus on indulging 😀 While cakes baked, I cooked asparagus, and cut up broccoli. I put some pasta sauce to simmer. Browned ground beef. Cut up sweet potatoes and made Paleo Mayo. I was a busy bee and it was well worth it!
Hope everyone has a SWELL day! It’s rainy and icky here. Perfect for staying inside and finishing those cake balls I am committed to make! But first I have to survive the traffic home that is destined to come later this afternoon! You know the drill… BE AWESOME!
Now that the open is over, I am going to try and focus on GOALS! Things like a sub 10 minute Karen, Pull Ups, HSPU, etc. I know it’s all possible I just gotta put in the homework. Over time with Coach’s programming at CrossFit Boom I have made progress in many things. I’ve come a long way. But I don’t feel I’ve met my POTENTIAL. Wait, I know I haven’t! And I know I can’t just “get” by with only showing up and not working on my weaknesses when I get a chance. I’m not going to try and kill myself but I know a little more mobility work each day will be helpful. Hanging on the pull up bar a little everyday will be SUPER helpful. So many little things that I need to focus on. And that’s my FIRST GOAL for now. Do HOMEWORK and hopefully take it to the next level.
idrankthecfkoolaid 